Charlie
Charlie Nash, is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games. He is first introduced as a playable character in the original Street Fighter Alpha, but was already part of the series' backstory since Street Fighter II. Charlie was a first lieutenant in the United States Air Force and friend of Guile, long thought to be dead before being brought back to life as a puppet for the Illuminati. His Japanese name, Nash becomes his international name as of Street Fighter V. Story Charlie is first mentioned by name in the Street Fighter II storyline (first released in 1991), where he is the deceased war buddy of Guile, one of the playable characters in the game. Prior to the events of the game, Charlie was killed by M. Bison, although the exact circumstances are not clear (in the English localization of the game, it is said that he was taken captive during a mission and later died during the escape attempt). In the game, Guile enters the World Warrior tournament with the purpose of avenging his fallen friend's death. In Super Street Fighter II Turbo, a scene is shown of Guile visiting Charlie's grave. Charlie would later be made into a playable character in Street Fighter Alpha, a prequel set before the Street Fighter II games. In the Alpha storyline, Charlie was the previous U.S. Martial Arts champion for two years (a record succeeded by Ken) and was also the one who taught Guile some of his fighting techniques (explaining their similar fighting styles). In the game, Charlie is given the duty to track down Bison and uncover corruption within the American military. In his ending, Charlie defeats Bison, but only to be struck from behind by him shortly afterwards. Despite Charlie's death in the first Alpha game, he would return as a playable character in the two succeeding Street Fighter Alpha games. Street Fighter Alpha 2 features a different depiction of his death during his ending - after defeating Bison, he is shot from the back by his intended backup helicopter and falls from the waterfall. In Street Fighter Alpha 3, he has an ending where he actually survives battle and manages to destroy Shadaloo's secret base. In the console ports of Alpha 3, Guile is added to the playable roster as well. In Guile's storyline, he is ordered by his superiors to track Charlie, who has supposedly gone AWOL. In reality, Charlie was undercover to investigate Shadaloo and its connection to the military, whereas Guile was sent to put a stop to him without knowing it. After realizing, Guile defeats Bison and teams up with Charlie to destroy Bison's Psycho Drive. Guile escapes, while Charlie stays behind to hold off Bison and is presumed dead after the explosion. Street Fighter V confirms his Street Fighter Alpha 2 ending is canon, being killed by the Dictator's minions, making his Alpha 3 story a what-if scenario. He is resurrected by Kolin (Gill's secretary, under guise of Helen) by using a body material from a prototype Twelve android known as Eleven, turning him into a puppet of Illuminati (Street Fighter III's main antagonist led by Gill). The group exploits Charlie's vengeful desire against Bison, which nearly alienated himself from his comrades. He soon regains his senses and joins the other fighters led by Karin Kanzuki and her Zaibatsu. In the final battle against Shadaloo, Charlie sacrificed his life absorbing M. Bison's power as far as he can, so Ryu can finish off M. Bison for good with his mastered Hado. He is presumed dead once again, however the story implies he did not die just yet. In the Marvel vs. timeline, after aiding the heroes in defeating Apocalypse, Charlie was captured by Bison who did terrible experiments on him, his fate would be left unknown until Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, where it would be shown that Bison turned him into a cyborg called Shadow, and inserted some of his Psycho Power on him. Some point between MSHvSF and Marvel vs Capcom, Bison got Apocalypse's technology and planned to enhance Charlie even more, doing things like completely turning his skin into metal and inserting guns in his fingers. However, Charlie managed to break free of Bison's brainwashing and later was among the helpers in the battle against Onslaught, later, when Bison cornered Chun-Li and was transforming her into Shadow Lady, Shadow battled Bison and opened Chun Li's chance to escape, however, she would later turn into Shadow Lady by Bison, but she would not be mind controlled and escaped with her cyborg powers. Shadow and Shadow Lady would later save Jin's life by turning him into a cyborg. By unknown means, Shadow, Shadow Lady and Jin would revert back to normal form, and Charlie aided in the battle versus Abyss, and would return to his own universe. In Other Media Due to Charlie's integral role as a character in Guile's backstory, many Street Fighter adaptations produced prior to the release of Street Fighter Alpha featured their unique depictions of Charlie. In the live-action Street Fighter movie, Charlie and Blanka were combined into one character named Carlos Blanka. In the film Carlos is taken captive by Bison and is subjected to gene altering experiments by Bison, transforming him into a mutated beast like Blanka is in the games. The American-produced animated Street Fighter series loosely follows the film's storyline in which Charlie and Blanka are the same character. The episode "Eye of the Beholder" features Blanka reverting back to his human form. He is given clothing similar to the one Charlie wears in the games. In Street Fighter II V, Charlie is depicted as having slicked black hair and a beard, a design which bears a likeness to actor Jean Reno (the supporting character of Tom from Street Fighter III bears a similar design). He appears late during the series, when he and Guile are hired by Ken's father to rescue Ken and Chun-Li from Bison. Charlie is killed by Bison during the mission. In the English dub version of the series, he retains his original Japanese name, although at one point Guile calls him "Charlie". As Street Fighter II V was developed before the Street Fighter Alpha series, Charlie does not appear with his trademark blond hair and yellow vest. In the comic adaptation of Street Fighter by UDON, Charlie's Japanese name is made into his surname, giving him the full name of Charlie Nash (this name is not canonized by Capcom). Udon would also include Shadow as part of their Street Fighter comic series. In the comic, Bison captures Charlie, turns him into Shadow, and uses him as an agent. He tries to have Shadow kill Guile and Chun Li in Japan, but Charlie regains his memory in the fight and runs off. He later attempts to rejoin his friends, but is gunned down by Bison's helicopter. With the last of his strength, Charlie sacrifices himself by using his Somersault Justice to destroy the cliff on which they were fighting, sending both he and Bison plunging into the sea. In the Rockman (Megaman) Remix and the Rockman Megamix manga by Ariga Hitoshi, Charlie briefly appears as a news caster in several chapters. Instead of going by his Japanese name of Nash, he is simply called Charlie. Appearance Charlie wears green cargo pants and a yellow jacket. He has glasses which he takes off before a fight. He has an exaggerated hairstyle consisting of a large forelock of blond hair. Gameplay Since Charlie taught Guile his moves, Charlie's gameplay resembles Guile's. Two of his special moves require charging a direction, which makes him a defensive character. However, Charlie is more than capable of playing rush down effectively. His moves are usually projectiles (Sonic Boom) or rising kicks (Flash Kick). To make this more unique, Charlie is a power-based fighter in comparison to Guile's technical fighting ability and speed. Special Attacks * Sonic Boom: Shoots out a physicaly-resembling-sonic boom-projectile by slashing the air with an arm. Charlie shows mastery over this attack since unlike Guile who uses both arms, Charlie uses one. * Somersault Kick: Also known as the Flash Kick or Somersault Shell, and the name says it all in that it's a simple backflip kick. Unlike Guile's version, Charlie's is actually a turned around frontflip kick with either a green or pink slashline instead. Like with Guile in the MVC series, a diagonal energy wave is shot upward from this attack. * Moonsault Slash: Charlie performs a reversed Somersault Kick in a frontflipping heel drop manner, falling down on his opponent to crush them. Can only be done in the air. 'Assist Attacks Hyper Combos * Sonic Break (Level 1): '''also known as '''Sonic Barrage, Charlie throws multiple Sonic Booms in a row (via his normal Sonic Boom motion, an uppercut, a Spinning Back Knuckle command normal followed by a Rolling Sobat). By tapping buttons while he is executing the hyper combo will cause even more Sonic Booms to be thrown in succession. In the MVC series, multiple Sonic Booms are fired off of one motion, making the attack fill the screen more than in the SF incarnations. * Somersault Justice (Level 1): '''Also known as the Flash Kick Justice, this is Charlie's stronger version of the Somersault Kick and his own version of Guile's Somersault Strike. Performs multiple Somersault Kicks in a row. (Usually 3.) * '''Crossfire Blitz (Level 1): '''Autocombo move (unlike Guile, Charlie also has this in the original SF games); Charlie rushes forward and pummels the foe with multiple attacks. Unlike in the SF Alpha/Zero games Charlie must connect with the dash first; he will not perform the autocombo outright, making the move more sure-to-connect. Tag Partner ''X-Men Vs. Street Fighter * Storm * Chun-Li Theme Song Artwork 712827-nash.jpg|X-Men vs. Street Fighter Xsf-nash1vs.gif|X-Men vs. Street Fighter versus screen 1 Xsf-nash2vs.gif|X-Men vs. Street Fighter versus screen 2 Xsf-nash1.gif|X-Men vs. Street Fighter victory pose 1 Xsf-nash2.gif|X-Men vs. Street Fighter victory pose 2 Charlie Nash (MvC2 Hyper Combo).png|Charlie Hyper Combo Screen. Mvc2-charlie.png|Charlie's alternate colors in MvC2 xmvsfcha-1.gif|Charlie's ending 1/6 xmvsfcha-2.gif|Charlie's ending 2/6 xmvsfcha-3.gif|Charlie's ending 3/6 xmvsfcha-4.gif|Charlie's ending 4/6 xmvsfcha-5.gif|Charlie's ending 5/6 xmvsfcha-6.gif|Charlie's ending 6/6 Trivia * In X-Men vs. Street Fighter, in one stage, Blanka can be seen in the background. But when the player has Charlie as their chosen fighter on that stage, Blanka is replaced by Beast. The reason of why Charlie and Blanka don't appear in the same stage at the same time, is because both the Street Fighter live action movie and the American 1995 cartoon showed that both Blanka and Charlie were the same person (however, this fact is non-canon). * Storm is Charlie's partner in X-Men vs. Street Fighter. * As Shadow, he reuses his old graphics assets from X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and even his quotes are directly lifted from the previous game, including the old typesetting. Sprites Also See Charlie Nash's moves in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes Category:Characters in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes Category:Capcom Characters Category:Charlie Nash Category:Characters in X-Men vs. Street Fighter es:Charlie